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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26937094">Tessa Shepard - Background</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyamesindy/pseuds/ladyamesindy'>ladyamesindy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Commander Tessa Shepard [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:33:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>640</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26937094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyamesindy/pseuds/ladyamesindy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tessa is a Shepard I created just for writing whump prompts.  She is a variant of the Earthborn background, War Hero and Vanguard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Commander Tessa Shepard [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965532</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tessa Shepard - Background</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tessa Shepard loses her mother when she is very young – somewhere around six or seven – in a tragic accident.  Afterward, her father raises her.  She gets along with him very well, but he notices shortly after the accident she starts having trouble communicating with him and others.  Her teachers say she won’t talk at school, she just sits there, quietly watching.  She does the work, but never speaks.  At home, she does talk some, but not a whole lot, and when she does, she occasionally struggles.  Over time, she opens up more, at least with him.  Her grades in school, however, remain average because of her hesitancy in participating.  When she is sixteen, she witnesses her father get shot and killed in front of her by two street gang members.  They take her with them and hold her against her will for months.  At this point, she reverts back to her days of silence, refusing to speak to them.  Finally fed up with this, the <em>Reds </em>leader orders her brought before him.  At some point during their conversation, he reaches towards her. </p><p>Tessa simply reacts; she doesn’t know how she does it, where it comes from or what causes it, but dark energy surrounds her and she lashes out at him.  Physically, she doesn’t do as much damage as a trained biotic, but she does enough and manages to get free of the <em>Reds</em>.  She wanders the streets for a while until she literally runs into a kind man (as she is running away from a cop chasing her for stealing something to eat).  Next thing she knows, she’s eating a burger, fries and the biggest, chocolatiest thickest milkshake she’s ever seen.  He does most of the talking – some questions, but nothing too frightening or direct.  He kind of reminds her of her father, and she thinks the blue in his uniform is rather nice.  Next thing she knows, they’re on their way to the Alliance’s Ascension Project.  There, she starts to come out of her shell a bit – Kahlee Sanders proves to be an interesting and very easy person to talk to.  By the time her eighteenth birthday rolls around, she knows she wants to enlist.  Anderson, the man who saved her on the street that day, is more than just a little impressed.  </p><p>Getting through Basic is great until the very end.  She doesn’t mind the orders, the drill sergeants, the early rising or long marches.  What she <em>does </em>mind is when they let her know at the end of Basic that they want to send her to OCS.  Becoming an officer scares her nearly to death.  It isn’t the extra responsibility, it’s the <em>communicating</em> with superior officers and enlisted personnel.  It’s the thought of having to speak to them, of making herself understood the <em>first time, </em>that is what terrifies her.  She’s perfectly willing to remain a grunt her entire career.  Happy as a clam to have something she can do.  Point, shoot.  Easy as pie.  Talk to her commander?  Give a corporal a direct order?  Not so much.  She agrees and forces herself through the experience. </p><p>Surprisingly, Elysium is easy.  She’s on leave, a plan to meet up with friends, but it all goes to hell when the attack starts.  When the first orbital bombardments start, she races out of her hotel, pistol in hand.  For a period of time, she is the ranking officer on hand; she gives orders to the few other Alliance personnel on leave and does her best not to frighten the civilians who help.  She is terrified the entire time, that they won’t follower her orders, not of the pirates attacking.  Somehow, she comes out the other side … and Anderson recommends her to ICT <em>and </em>the Star of Terra.  If she could get away with killing him, she thinks she would.</p>
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